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Archive for February, 2016

I decided to spend a day up at Springbrook National Park. It’s about a 45 minute drive from the Gold Coast but well worth the journey. I drove up into the mountains and found that light rain and mist were lingering around. This made it seem even more magical. I parked my car and did the Purlingbrook Falls track. This is a 4km track which goes in a circuit to the Purlingbrook Falls and back to the car park. I walked on the pathway which was adjacent to the cliff.

From this path I could see the top of the waterfall cascading down forcefully to the rocks and pool below. I walked past native rainforest plants, wildflowers and tree ferns. I spotted a yellow robin and a couple of butterflies. The rainforest was very peaceful and calming. Soon I was at the bottom of the waterfall. I gazed up at this tower of water before me.

Even just the sound of it was soothing. The water spurted out from orange coloured rocks in a straight white torrent. I gazed mesmerised. Then I made my way back. Afterwards I had a mocha and a brownie at a nearby cafe’ then made my way to the Natural Bridge which was about 17km away. I drove through the green rolling fields of Numinbah Valley adorned with cattle and horses. I remember I did a trail ride here for my birthday a few years back.

Then I was at the Natural Bridge. I parked my car, read the information signs and began the walk. There were a few steps but not too many. Soon I was at the Natural Bridge. This place takes my breath away every time-it’s so enthralling. I looked at the rocks forming a bridge with the waterfall cascading behind and through them. I wandered over to the glow worm cave which this was attached to. Then I did the rest of the walk, stopping at various lookouts on the way.

I recently went on a day trip to Brisbane from the Gold Coast. There I caught the City Cat ferry using my Go Card from Queensland Transport and criss crossed the Brisbane River on my way to South Bank. On the way we passed the Queensland Maritime Museum and I saw the skyline of Brisbane.

Soon we were at South Bank and I disembarked the ferry. I looked at the riverside views, walked past the Brisbane Eye and through the archway laced with wisteria. Soon I was at the Brisbane Museum. I had seen that the Medieval Exhibition was on and I was keen to go and see it. I paid to see the exhibition and went upstairs. At the top I gave my ticket to the cashier and entered the exhibit.

Tinkling medieval music played in the background. The British Museum had lent this museum medieval objects which they would display here until April before they would be returned. I saw swords, figurines and so on. They were awe inspiring to look at and just marvel at how old they were! There were paintings on the walls also. Each object had information about it beside it. I would highly recommend this exhibition.

I had heard from my uncle that there was a beautiful big ocean pool a drive away in Bermagui. One day I decided to find it…

I drove to Bermagui. This included driving across a little arched one way bridge across water filled with beautiful black swans. This was mesmerising.

Finally I got to Bermagui (it’s about a 45-50 minute drive from Moruya.) I stopped off at the information centre and was given a map of Bermagui along with directions to find the Blue Pool. I drove alongside a beach and came to a tight and steep corner. I turned into it and found myself on a steep downward slope. I parked and walked down the steep staircase to the ocean pool in the rocks below.

The coastline around me was magnificent. Soon I was by two big ocean pools. One was smaller which I assumed was for children and the other was much larger. I put on my goggles and snorkel and clambered down the ladder into the larger pool.

I was impressed with how deep the water was and how big the pool was. It was in a large rectangular shape. On the bottom I saw big fish, coral, seaweed and shells. I snorkelled from one end of the pool to the other. Occasionally big waves crashed over rocks and new sea water drifted into the ocean pool. This was my first time in an ocean pool and it was amazing!

I’d heard there was a museum in Moruya, right in town which I couldn’t remember visiting before. It is quite near the library. The building is welcoming with a gorgeous garden with roses out the front. A man who worked at the museum who had been gardening, greeted me, charged me the admission and allowed me to enter the museum.

The museum is set out like an old fashioned house. At the bottom is a parlour, dining room and kitchen. On the first floor is an Anzac memorial room and upstairs is a nursery and another bedroom. Each room was filled with furniture of the time with labels of what everything was and where it had come from. Paintings adorned the walls of historical buildings including the famous Kiora House.

There were old fashioned costumes on manikins, the kitchen had old fashioned soap and packages and jars and an old fashioned oven which ran on hot coals. The Anzac memorial room had manikins wearing uniforms and in the glass cabinet were badges. In the nursery were cradles and cribs. In the bedroom were manikins wearing old fashioned women’s clothing including a bathing suit in black and white, an old fashioned bed spread and so on. This place really is a treasure trove and showcases the history of Moruya and its surrounding towns and is definitely well worth a visit.

Off the coast of Narooma you can see an island with a lighthouse on it out to sea. That island is Montague Island and I’d always wanted to visit it. I decided one day that I would finally visit, booked my ticket online and showed up at the allocated time on the day to find the boat at the wharf.

I found the boat, the company and the other people day tripping to the beautiful island. We told the skipper our names and he marked us off his paper list. Soon we were off to sea. We powered past the breakwall and people fishing, past other people on boats and could soon see the island in view, gradually getting bigger as we got closer to our destination.

There were both scuba divers and snorkellers on the boat and people who didn’t want to do either. I opted for snorkelling and as the boat anchored a short distance off the island, near a local sea colony, I put on my wetsuit, googles, snorkel and flippers and walked off the metal ladder at the back of the boat.

Coming from Queensland the water was cold but the wetsuit kept me relatively warm. I looked at the depths beneath me and spotted large silver fish, corals and seals! I didn’t want to get too close to the seals but instead marvel them from a distance. They were splashing about in the water or lazing on the rocks at the edge of the island.

After some swimming near the boat we exited the water and made our way on the boat to the main jetty of the island. We docked there and got changed back into our everyday clothes. A New South Wales Parks and Wildlife man was there to greet us and accompany us on a guided tour of the island. He had a list of people who were to go with him as others had opted to scuba dive instead.

We exited the boat and made our way up the path of the island. The man spoke to us about the island and its significance to the local indigenous peoples who had inhabited it for many years. He reminded us to take our rubbish with us as there were no bins on the island. We followed him up the steep, winding path on the way to the towering white lighthouse which overlooked the surrounding coastline.

We reached the lighthouse keeper’s cottage-a beautiful white building with a blue roof looking out across the sparkling blue sea. All around us were seagulls and other sea birds screeching ferociously in the sea breeze. This was their island after all. We walked to the lighthouse which the man opened. We climbed up the winding spiral staircase past narrow windows overlooking the ocean. I was reminded of the children’s television show I’d watched growing up: Round the Twist. We soon reached the top and walked out to the verandah surrounding the top of the lighthouse.

This offered 360 degree views of the island and Mount Dromedary in the distance. Then we descended the lighthouse after taking many photos. The guide then took us on a walk on a grassy pathway which he mows around the island. We found a quaint bay for swimming enclosed by rocks which formed thrones for sea birds perched on them. We came across the family which was staying in the lighthouse keeper’s cottage-they were swimming in the sea. How peaceful it must be to have an island to yourself! Then it was back on the boat and back to the mainland at Narooma after a fantastic time on Montague Island.

Tilba Tilba is a quaint little village on the way from Moruya to Narooma. It has a well sign posted turn off. I found a car park and promptly went to visit the bakery for lunch. I had a chicken pie and a delicious chocolate eclair filled with whipped cream. I sat on a bench outside the bakery atop a hill and gazed at my surroundings: the little street was lined with shops on both sides and in the distance were rolling green hills and pastures and even further were distant blue coloured mountains.

I walked inside the shops and looked at the interesting wares: leather belts, clothes, jewellery, shoes, dream catchers, tarot cards, incense sticks, sun catchers sparkling in the sun and so on. I passed a quaint tea room and looked inside an old fashioned general store. I went to my favourite place on the street: the cheese factory. I’d been coming here since I was a child and was keen to buy their sun-dried tomato cheese.

Upon entering the shop I saw there were two varieties of the sun-dried tomato cheese: a hard cheese version and a softer cheese. I opted for the harder cheese and bought my favourite treat.

I’d heard there was a white lioness at Mogo Zoo and was intrigued so I went to visit. The zoo is just a short drive from Mogo and is well sign posted so you can’t miss it. I paid my admission fee and entered. I looked at monkeys climbing on the trees inside their enclosures and peaking out at us human visitors.

I passed meerkats with one on senitel duty (on guard) with its tail in the air-looking for any possible hint of danger while the others ate, scurried around or rested. Meerkats are so adorable especially when they run with their tails in the air. A wall in their enclosure was painted to look like an African safari landscape.

I passed snoozing snow leopards, towering giraffes, interesting ostriches and running zebras. I spotted a gigantic gorilla in its enclosure on top of a hill. I could hear it calling too. The sumatran tigers’ yellow eyes followed me through the wire of their enclosure and finally I found the white lioness. She was walking up and down the fence line and rubbing her body against the fence. Other lionesses were cleaning each other and lying sprawled out on the grass inside the enclosure. Lastly I patted some friendly deer. What an experience!

Mogo is a historic gold mining town between Moruya and Bateman’s Bay. The highway passes right through it so you cannot miss it. In the popular summer months the place is bustling with shoppers often including quite a few tourists from Canberra, Sydney and even overseas.

I stopped to do some shopping here one time. I had a look at the pottery in one shop, gazed at an assortment of beads in another, looked at colourful clothes, candles and marvelled at sparkling jewellery. I bought some sweet smelling honeysuckle soap. I had my lunch at a bakery-a steak pie. I sat at a little table and gazed out of the window-people watching outside.

Shoppers walked past, gazing at the wares and customers inside the shop window. I finished my pie, bought some delicious chocolate fudge and continued my journey. I visited a book shop which had aisles and aisles filled with so many different types of books. Lastly as the rain set in, I entered a tea room at the end of the street and had a Devonshire tea, looking out at the rainy street from inside the shop.

Broulee Island can be seen in the distance from the sandy shore of Shelly Beach. There it is a purple landmass across the sea. I drove and walked around the island recently. It is about a 15-20 minute drive from Moruya Heads. Broulee is a pretty coastal town with quite a few houses now but its shoreline is clear of buildings which is nice.

I walked along the sandy shoreline of the beach and approached the island. It was low tide so there was a lot of sand. I began my walk past the Broulee rock pools. These rock pools are very popular and quite large-stretching for quite a distance. Inside the pools I spotted seaweed, sea shells, colourful corals and some fish.

The walk around the island was sometimes a little tricky when I navigated my way over the pebbles. I marvelled at the ocean views which surrounded me and spotted sooty oyster catchers and seagulls on the rocks. The middle of the island is bushland and has a path going right through it. Soon I had walked the perimeter of the island and settled on a nearby patrolled beach to have a swim.

The Moruya Markets are an eclectic mix of stalls selling items such as plants, food and drinks, books, crockery, clothing and so on. The markets have got a lot bigger than when I came here as a child in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Back then the markets were based around a large car park in town. Since then they have moved to the banks of the Moruya River, near the Moruya public swimming pool.

When I was a child I saved up my pocket money each week to buy something special at these markets. This could be a crocheted rainbow hat which I proudly wore to school, a lucky dip, a pretty flower pot plant or a bag of cinnamon donuts from the donut van which is still at the market today.

Then my family would take the underpass beneath the Moruya bridge and walk adjacent to the Moruya River before walking up the grassy hill on the other side and visit the ice cream parlour. I always had a bubblegum flavoured ice cream and was pleased to discover that they still have this flavour. We also used to visit discount store Silly Willy’s to pick up some bargains. Other times we would spend time fishing from the banks of the Moruya River a little drive down the road. Remember you do need a fishing permit to fish in this area. The country town atmosphere (although it is near the sea) has always been and will always be palpable and the small town community feel will coexist also.